Delegates can now register for the third International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Eligibility Conference being held in Paris, France, from 18-19 July.

Aimed at National Eligibility Officers (NEOs) but open to anyone with an interest in the area, the conference coincides with the 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport European Summer Games.

Professor Jan Burns MBE, World Intellectual Impairment Sport Head of Eligibility, encouraged members to get involved:

“As part of our strategic goal to develop a gold standard for athlete eligibility, we are planning what we hope will be a useful and insightful programme for the conference. We believe it is a great chance to share best practice and help to build a stronger system in the future.

“By inviting all NEOs and anyone else who has an interest, we are aiming to build on the two previous editions. These helped deliver real improvements because we were able to deliver education face-to-face, and openly discuss the challenges and benefits experienced at a national level.

“I am looking forward to welcoming delegates to Paris in July for yet another great World Intellectual Impairment Sport Eligibility Conference.”

The programme will include:

– An update on eligibility from World Intellectual Impairment Sport Executive Director Nick Parr

– A session on the latest research findings in the trial eligibility groups. These are II2 (for athletes with a more significant impairment) and II3 (for athletes with autism)

– A presentation from KU Leuven University, Belgium, on classification research

– Information about the Intellectual Disability and Equal Opportunities for Active and Long-term Participation in Sport (IDEAL) project being run in Europe

– A workshop on eligibility and a question and answer session

Registration closes on 20 June.

The 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport European Summer Games are being organised by World Intellectual Impairment Sport Europe and will feature eight sports between 14-22 July.

Cycling and tennis is open to athletes outside of the region. Those competitions will act as the World Championships for those sports in 2018.

About eligibility

To be considered eligible to compete, athletes must meet the eligibility criteria as defined by World Intellectual Impairment Sport. These are based upon the World Health Organisation and American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) research and guidance.

Eligibility is applied for through the World Intellectual Impairment Sport member in a country. All World Intellectual Impairment Sport members have an NEO whose job it is to provide World Intellectual Impairment Sport with evidence of the athlete’s impairment.

 

Around 30 psychologists attended an athlete eligibility workshop run by the International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) in Cairo, Egypt, between 27-28 April.

Professor Jan Burn MBE, World Intellectual Impairment Sport Head of Eligibility, delivered the session to train the group in the basics, including an introduction to the organisation, the differences between eligibility and classification, how World Intellectual Impairment Sport defines its criteria for athletes and the process for registering competitors.

The National Eligibility Officer (NEO), Hoda Mohamedy, also joined the workshop which saw both qualified and trainee psychologists attend. Each World Intellectual Impairment Sport member must have an NEO who is responsible for ensuring that athletes meet the eligibility criteria before an application is submitted to the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Eligibility Panel. They must be a qualified psychologist and are supported by a group of other professionals.

“I really enjoyed working with the Egyptian psychologists, they were very enthusiastic to learn about the eligibility processes and how they can ensure that they implement robust systems,” Burns said. “They were particularly keen to learn about the new groups (II2 and II3) and how athletes with Down syndrome can be included. It was also encouraging that so many psychologists in training wanted to get involved in this early stage of their career.

“The attendees of the workshop feedback was that they enjoyed the event and now felt much more knowledgeable.”

The II2 and II3 groups are for athletes with a more significant impairment and for athletes with high-functioning autism, respectively. World Intellectual Impairment Sport introduced these groups in 2017, both as trials, which will continue into the future while further research is carried out.

Art and culture mix with business with pleasure

The workshop was hosted by ESFID, the World Intellectual Impairment Sport member for Egypt, following the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Governing Board meeting in the previous month. It also coincided with an international exhibition of art from people with impairments.

“The facilities and arrangements were excellent, so many thanks to ESFID and the rest of the team,” Burns continued. “The workshop was one of a number of events happening as part of the 2nd Awladna International Forum for Arts of the Gifted, which had 30 nations attending, so it was fantastic to see so many people with disabilities from around the world, and their art.”

The group draw for the 2018 International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments was held in host city Karlstad in Sweden on Friday (20 April).

Hosted by ex-national midfielder Stefan Schwarz, the draw saw eight teams and the opening fixture decided.

Hosts Sweden will play Germany in their opening match. They are joined by South Africa and France in group A.

Group B is made up of defending champions Saudi Arabia, European title holders Poland, Japan and Russia.

Schwarz, who is also an ambassador for Karlstad 2018, said: “The draw is amazing because it’s quality games, all of it, and it’s the top nations in the world. It’s going to be very competitive games. Everyone must prepare in the best way because there is no opportunity for mistakes.

“It will hopefully be a football festival as well because at that time of year, Tingvalla is a fantastic place. I hope with the nice weather and nature around as well will bring a lot of football fans to participate to give the teams the support they need.”

On the morning of the draw Schwarz also went to check-out the Swedish team’s preparations at a training session.

“We are only in April so there is still four or five months to develop and get better as a team. What I saw today was amazing, high quality, a lot of skills,” he said of the national team. “But what most impressed me was their play on the big open field. The timing, the change of position, the depth, was very impressive. How they work as a unit together. They are looking good, looking strong, it’s a couple months still to improve.”

Karlstad 2018 will take place from 5-18 August.

Players will get to experience five stadiums across four different cities – Karlstad, Kil, Arvika and Kristinehamm.

In Karlstad the Tingvalla idrottsplats and Orsholmen’s idrottsplats will host group matches.

Group matches will also be held in Sannerudsvallen, Solviksvallen and Sannaheden stadiums in Kil, Arvika and Kristinehamm respectively.

The semi-finals will be held on 14 August at Tingvalla as well as the third place game and final on 18 August.

One more team, Argentina, may also compete. A separate draw for which group they will join will be held once the team have confirmed their participation. World Intellectual Impairment Sport and the organisers want to give as many teams as possible the chance to take part in this event.

The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments has announced that the second World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian video competition will be held in 2018, in the latest phase of the sport’s development.

Following the success of the first competition held in the innovative video format in 2017, countries have until 7 October to submit their entries.

Last year 14 riders from four countries were filmed completing the Grade IV Novice A test. Russia’s Ekaterina Kirienkova was crowned the winner on her horse Lady Lux.

In 2018 World Intellectual Impairment Sport is hoping for even more entries.

Uta Rindfleisch, who is leading the development of Para Equestrian for athletes with intellectual impairments, said: “The first video competition was very much a trial to see what interest is out there for the sport. We were pleased to have four countries taking part and the standard was very high.

“This year we are encouraging even more entries. We know that there are riders in a lot of countries but they may not have the funding to be able to travel to events. That is why we are running the competition in a video format, to make taking part as simple as possible.”

The 2^nd World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian Video Competition is open to World Intellectual Impairment Sport members and non-member countries to aid the development of Para Equestrian for athletes with intellectual impairments.

Horses are required to wear bandages to indicate that the test has not been performed and judged at another competition. Tests will be assessed and scored by a panel of International Federation for Equestrian Sport (FEI) Para Equestrian judges.

About World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian

Equestrian was added to the World Intellectual Impairment Sport sport programme in 2016 in the form of dressage. The organisation wants to offer the best riders with intellectual impairments the chance to compete regularly.

More information about the sport, including the rules and history, can be found at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Para Equestrian page.

The International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments (World Intellectual Impairment Sport) Governing Board gathered for their first meeting of 2018 in Cairo, Egypt, between 21-22 March.

During the meeting, hosted by World Intellectual Impairment Sport Egypt member ESFID, a number of key items were agreed, setting-up 2018 as another year of progress.

The board have agreed to create a Neutral Athlete Policy to allow the participation of athletes from countries with no member organisation to compete at World Intellectual Impairment Sport competitions in exceptional circumstances. The full policy will be developed and published in the coming months.

The group also reviewed the progress of the project to introduce additional eligibility groups in World Intellectual Impairment Sport competition.

The trial groups – II2 for athletes with more significant impairments and II3 for athletes with high-functioning autism – were introduced in 2017 at the swimming and table tennis Championships.

Following the further inclusion of II2 and II3 medal events at the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Indoor Athletics Championships and World Intellectual Impairment Sport World Alpine and Nordic Skiing Championships in early 2018, it was agreed to continue with the trial. II2 has initially been limited to athletes with Down syndrome but research is underway regarding expanding the group to athletes who have an intellectual together with a further impairments.

From a strategic perspective the board discussed the World Intellectual Impairment Sport events programme and how competitions can be improved from an athlete and stakeholder perspective. This included the role of the sports committees and the Official Representative – the Governing Board member assigned to each event. The ideas put forward will be discussed at the Sports Council meeting in July.

The annual accounts for 2017 were presented and approved, and these have now been published in the Annual Report.

The first quarter management accounts for 2018 were also discussed alongside the need to generate more income through partnerships and fundraising. Projects such as #WeAreSport and the new World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Athlete Foundation have seen early success but more work is required to support other initiatives.

Revisions were agreed to a number of policies and provisions which follows on from governance changes agreed at the 2017 General Assembly.

Suspensions of World Intellectual Impairment Sport Members in Indonesia and Great Britain were lifted and the Confederation Internationale Francophone Sport Adapté Culture (CIFSAC) was added as a provisional member. If formally approved at General Assembly, CIFSAC will be the second member in the International Federation category alongside World Taekwondo.

A number of appointments to sub-committees were also signed off. Catherine Fayollet (FRA) was confirmed as chairperson of the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Medical Committee and Dave Harman (ECU) has been appointed to the World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games Committee.

A reorganisation of the Anti-Doping Committee is also currently being implemented to ensure greater accountability and focus on individuals strengths/experience.

Finally updates were received on the planning and delivery of the 2019 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Global Games in Brisbane, Australia. Reviews were also undertaken of the 2017 World Intellectual Impairment Sport Swimming Championships, indoor athletics and alpine and Nordic skiing.

The next World Intellectual Impairment Sport Governing Board meeting will take place in Madrid, Spain, in September.